Improvement in district alarm-telegraphs



2 Sheets--Sheet1'. W. 0. SN 0 W.

. DistrictAlarm-Telegraphs N() 155207 Patented Sept.22-,1874-\ WI TJVESSES WW, I

THE GRAPHIC CO. PHOTO4-ITH4 35&4! PARK PLACLNAQ 2 Shegts Sheet 2. W. D. SNO W DistrictAlarm-Teleg'raphs; NQ.155,2O7, PatentedSept.22,1874.

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WILLIAM D. SNOW, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

lMPROVEMENT lN DISTRICT ALARM-TELEGRAPHS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 155,207, dated September 22, 1874; application filed June 18,1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM D. SNOW, of

Brooklyn, in the State of New York, have invented an Improved System of Automatic Alarm-Telegraphy; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full and correct description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a general view, showing the relative arrangement of the parts of my apparatus. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section,'on an enlarged scale, of the automatic signal apparatus. Fig. 3 is an elevation, on enlarged scale, of the cut-oil.

The same part is marked by the same letter of reference wherever it occurs.

The object of my invention is to supply a new and improved system of reporting by telegraph signals or burglar, fire, and other alarms, to any desired point or points, within or without the buildings where they originate. My invention is designed to carry the intelligence automatically from such buildings or houses through a main or city line without bringing the main line into the building; without the employment of repeating appliances between the house-circuit and the main line; without breaking the continuity of the main line; and without subjecting the main circuit to any of the numerous accidents to which a house-circuit is at all times necessarily exposed.

Systems which make one circuit work another in automatic telegraphy for alarm purposes involve necessarily the employment of repeating apparatus in or near the building to be protected. In case of fire such automatic repeating apparatus, from its delicacy, or the necessity of employing a train of machinery actuated by springs, or such mechanism as requires adjustment, is very liable to get out of order in the confusion and accidents sure to ensue, and not only fails to accomplish its object, but frequently destroys the utility and efficiency of the main line.

The nature of my invention consists in the use of the devices and arrangements, hereinafter particularly described, for accomplishing the objects before named by the following simple method and combinations.

I run wires into the building from the main line to form an ordinary open circuit. For the main line I usethe ordinary closed circuit. 1 create what I call a compound'circuit, by the introduction into the city or country line, between the points at which the house-circuit is connected, of outside resistance-coils, constructed to oifer 'a greater resistance to the current than the aggregate of that ofi'ered by the helices and automatic inachinery used in the building, which enables me, as the house-circuit is an open one, to maintain undisturbed the ordinary uses of the city-line, except at the moment of its actual control by the normally open circuit in the building. 7

In the automatic signal-producing instrument which I use I require no'springs or keys, but avoid the necessity of both by relying upon gravity alone as its motive power.

For the completion of the system I have added a device by which, if the wire of the main line be broken, thecircuit will be completed through a ground-line, called into operation by the breaking of the main wireall in the manner hereinafter more fully described.

Referring now to the drawings, A marks the wire of a main or street line, supported on the telegraph-poles B. Into this line, at a point between the points at which the local open circuit is to be connected, I introduce a resistance-coil, 0, having suflicient resisting power to overbalance the resistance offered by the house-circuit and its helix, so that, when the house-circuit is closed, the current will pass through it in preference to passing through the coil 0. The wires D D are those of the house-circuit, which includes the thermostat E and the automatic signaling appa ratus F, which are placed in the building it is desired to protect.

The thermostat consists of a thermometer, A, connected by its bulb with the house-wire D, and having said wire extend down into its upper end to any given degree on the thermometric scale, so that when the mercury rises in the tube to the degree so pre-indicated the mercurial column shall complete and form part of the circuit. The plate B carrying the thermometer-tube can be moved up and down in ways in plate 0, so as to regulate the degree on the scale to which the wire D shall reach down into the tube. A gage, a, on the outside of the tube indicates at once to the eye the position of the end of the wire D in the inside of the tube, and facilitates the adjustment of the scale. The wire D also connects with and includes in the circuit the automatic signaling apparatus F, which is constructed as follows: A slotted plate, G, supports in proper ways the long gravitating-bar H toothed on one edge, as shown, and provided on the other edge with arrangements for breaking the circuit in the manner required to send the intended message or signal. To the upper end of the plate G is atfixed an electro-magnet, I, provided with a pendulous armature, J, which is retracted from the magnet by the spiral spring K, and is drawn up to the magnet when the house-circuit, which includes its helix, is closed. The lower end of armature J is formed in a hook, which, when the armature is not in contact with the magnet, engages with a pin on the upper end of bar H, and holds that bar up to its highest position, but when the armature is drawn to the magnet releases the bar and leaves it free to fall. A pin in the top of plate G serves as a stop to limit the upward movement of bar H. The toothed edge of bar H engages with the teeth of wheel T of a train of wheels, one of which carries a rapidly-revolving fan to steady the descent of the bar. A clutch or ratchet arrangement shown in Fig. 2 causes the bar in descending to drive the train of gearing and operate the fan, but permits the bar to be raised rapidly to its highest point without moving any of the train except the wheel T. A hook is attached to the bottom of bar H, to which, if need be, a weight can be attached to hasten its descent.

The circuit-breaking edge of bar H works in contact with spring-arm b, which connects it directly and at the proper intervals with wire D of the circuit.

The cutoff apparatus M is shown on an enlarged scale in Fig. 3 in its relation to bar H. It consists of the metallic are N divided by the non-conducting strip P into two portions, which are connected, respectively, with the circuit by the wires D D A non-conducting lever, Q, having its fulcrum at f, is held between the springs R R, and engages, by one of its ends, with the teeth of bar H. Its other end carries the sliding conductor S, which, when in the position shown in full lines in Fig. 3, disconnects the two ends of the are N, and when in the position shown by dotted lines in that figure, joins the two ends and makes them part of a common circuit. It is held in the first position while the bar is descending by the operation of the teeth of the bar upon the inner end of lever Q. It takes the other position while the bar H is being drawn up,so that during that operation no signals may be sent through the circuit, which remains closed. The bar H is drawn up by means of the handle Y. An index, Z, enables its position to be seen, at any time, from the outside of the box in which the mechanism may be inclosed.

The main wire A, as I have before observed. is very liable to be broken during a fire, and thus the efficiency of the main line suspended. 'To remedy the evil efl'ect of such an accident, I have placed a metallic collar, V, on the telegraph-pole in such a position that the metallic edge of the helix shall fall against it when the wire Ais broken, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. This collar is connected, by wire W, with the ground, and maintains the continuity of the circuit till the line can be repaired.

It is obvious that the automatic signaling apparatus can be operated either mechanically or by hand, by releasing the bar in any suitable manner and allowing it to fall either its whole length or as far as may be necessa ry to transmit any predetermined signals arranged upon the circuit-breaking edge. It is in this use of it that the index Z and its plate Y would come into play as important adjuncts to the device. It would, when thus operated, be entirely disconnected from the thermostat, and work, in conjunction with any form of circuit arranged, according to the peculiar requirements of each case, and operated by a local, artificial, or earth battery, if preferred. lIt might, for example, be used to operate a hotel-annunciator, and made to announce not jonly the room-number, but the particular want {which caused the summons to be sounded.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of a normally-closed main line, one or more normally-open branch circuits, and a resistance or resistances, placed on the main line between the points of union of the branch circuit or circuits with the'main line, substantially as described.

2. The automatic signaling apparatus, consisting of the gravitating-bar H, released by the closing of the circuit, operating in its de scent a fan or regulator, and acting, at the same time, as a circuit breaker, to transmit signals or messages of any predetermined character to any desired point, as described.

3. In combination with the gravitatin g sig nal-bar H, the cut-0E apparatus M, consisting of the divided are N, non-conducting strip 1?, lever Q, and springs R R, constructed and operating as set forth, for the purpose stated.

4. In combination with the normally-open house-circuit, the thermostat E and signaling apparatus F, constructed and operating as specified.

5. One or more resistance coils, placed, as described, in the normally-elosed circuit of a telegraph-line, in combination with a normally-open house-circuit, including automatic signal-instruments, as described.

6. The combination of an automatic signaling instrument with a governing thermostat, operating through circuits governed by 

